Chris McQueen started out in Austin as a true guitar geek, playing and recording songs on a 4-track Tascam by the time he hit the big 10 – (years, that is). Chris has been known to juggle several different projects at once, but is most notably 1/18th of the Grammy award-winning instrumental ensemble, Snarky Puppy.
By the age of 13 Chris was playing with guitar prodigy Will Knaak in Red Headed Stepchild, a western swing band in Austin. He played and composed for the Westlake High School Jazz Band before attending the University of North Texas, where he was a member of the acclaimed One O’Clock Lab Band (only the best-of-the best get that spot).
Following college, Chris remained in the Dallas area, co-leading the rock band Oso Closo with Adrian Hulet, and studying music with Bernard Wright and other members of the Dallas R&B/jazz/Gospel scene. Oso Closo performed on stage in the Who’s Tommy at the Dallas Theater Center and released two albums.
As a singer/actor, Chris has been featured in several rock musicals, including David Bowie’s Lazarus at New York Theater Workshop (featuring Michael C. Hall) and the Rocky Horror Show at The Dallas Theater Center.
After Oso Closo broke up, Chris and fellow band member Danny Garcia joined with singer/songwriter Cade Sadler to form the rock band Foe Destroyer. Foe Destroyer recorded an eponymous album, toured for several years, and performed on stage in Dallas and NYC in the musical Fly By Night.
Along with Henry Hey, he co-leads Forq, an explorative, groove-oriented instrumental band which has released four albums, and his acoustic guitar duo project with Matt Read is preparing a second album. He is an original and current member of Grammy-nominated world music group Bokanté as well as a frequent member of Banda Magda.
Snarky Puppy is an American instrumental ensemble founded in Denton in 2004. Led by bassist Michael League, the group combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won four Grammy awards (Best R&B Performance in 2014, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2016, 2017, and 2021). On November 14th, 2019, Snarky Puppy recorded their sold-out show from the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London.
Recently, Chris has expanded beyond guitar playing to focus on music arranging, mobile app building, teaching private lessons and video editing. He lives in Austin with his wife, Erin and their bunny, Georgia.
